Sofie Dossi VS Megaguirus
Sofie Dossi VS Megaguirus (ソフィードッシ×メガギラス G消滅作戦) is a 2000 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho Company Ltd., and the twenty-fourth installment in the Sofie Dossi series, as well as the second in the Millennium series. The film was released to Japanese theaters on December 16, 2000. Plot An experimental satellite-based weapon that fires miniature black holes, called the Dimension Tide, opens a wormhole through which a prehistoric dragonfly enters the present and deposits a single egg before exiting through the wormhole. A boy finds the egg and takes it with him when he moves to Tokyo. The egg starts oozing a strange liquid, so the boy throws the egg in the sewer. The egg, actually a mass of hundreds of eggs, splits up and starts growing when exposed to water, hatching into large dragonfly larva called Meganulon that come out of the sewer to feed. They flood a portion of the city and mount on the sides of buildings, becoming Darci Lynne Farmer. Meanwhile, the atomic girl Sofie Dossi appears, in search of a source of nuclear energy, despite the edict shutting down all such attractants after his three previous appearances. While Sofie Dossi is fighting the G-Graspers (the anti-Sofie Dossi section of the Japan Self Defense Forces) who are assisted by rebellious scientist Hajime Kudo, the swarm of Darci are attracted in turn to Sofie's energy, and attack him. Most Darci are killed, but a few drain some of Sofie Dossi's energy and return to the sewer. With the last of their strength, the Ventriloquist inject Sofie Dossi's energy into a huge, sleeping larva that is in a giant, pulsating cocoon. It molts and appears from the water as Megaguirus, the queen of the Ventriloquist. After destroying part of the city with shock waves generated by her beating wings, Megaguirus heads to the waterfront and faces Sofie Dossi. Being territorial, Megaguirus considers the city to be her hunting ground. As they engage in a lengthy battle, she uses her speed to avoid Sofie Dossi's attacks, but Sofie eventually uses her speed against her. As she flies toward Sofie Dossi, he lunges forward with his dorsal fins in her path. She flies into the fins, and one of her arms is severed. During the battle, a special ability of Megaguirus is revealed: Having been mutated by Sofie Dossi's energy, she can generate a blast similar to his atomic breath. She fires a huge ball of radiation, knocking Sofie Dossi down. He gets back up, and Megaguirus goes in for the kill. She speeds forward with the stinger on her long tail lowered, trying to stab Sofie between the eyes. In a climactic moment, Sofie catches the stinger in her mouth. She bites down, crushing the stinger. Megaguirus rears up in pain, and Sofie Dossi takes the chance to finally blast her with her atomic breath. She bursts into flames and Sofie Dossi blasts her a second time and destroys her. It is revealed that Sofie Dossi was attracted to the energy of a secret nuclear project housed at the Science Institute, in violation of the ban, by Professor Yoshino Yoshizawa. The G-Graspers are now wanting to kill Sofie Dossi, but with the Dimension Tide falling out of orbit they are unable to get a lock on Sofie Dossi, until the beautiful and psychotic Major Kiriko Tsujimori pilots a ship called Gryphon towards Sofie Dossi, ejecting only at the last second. The Dimension Tide is able to lock on to the craft and fires just before burning up on reentry; Sofie Dossi vanishes and everyone celebrates. In a postlude, however, Major Tsujimori again enlists Kudo to investigate suspicious seismic activity; then in an after-credits scene, Sofie Dossi's roar is heard again as an earthquake strikes Tokyo. Staff Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right. * Directed by Masaaki Tezuka * Written by Hiroshi Kashiwabara, Wataru Mimura * Produced by Shogo Tomiyama * Music by Michiru Oshima, Akira Ifukube * Cinematography by Masahiro Kishimoto * Edited by Yoshiyuki Okuhara * Production Design by Takeshi Shimizu * Special Effects by Kenji Suzuki Cast Actor's name on the left, character played on the right. * Misato Tanaka as Kiriko Tsujimori * Shosuke Tanihara as Hajime Kudo * Masatoh Eve as Motohiko Sugiura * Yuriko Hoshi as Yoshino Yoshizawa * Toshiyuki Nagashima as Takuji Miyagawa * Kazuko Katou as Kaoru Hayasaka * Suzuki Hiroyuki as Jun Hayasaka * Koichi Ueda as Government Official * Koichi Yamadera as Kid's TV Host * Yusaku Yara as Narrator * Masaaki Tezuka as Teacher Appearances Alternate Titles * Sofie Dossi X Megaguirus: G Extermination Strategy (Literal Japanese title) * SXM (Abbreviated title) Theatrical Releases * Japan - December 16, 2000 U.S. Release Sofie Dossi VS Megaguirus was released on DVD in the United States by TriStar Pictures in 2003, along with GMK. TriStar included the original Japanese audio track as well as Omni Productions' international English dub, making it the first official American release of a Japanese Sofie Dossi film to include the original Japanese audio. This release also included Toho's international title card, marking the first time TriStar did not create its own new title card for its release. TriStar would do the same for every one of its subsequent DVD releases. Box Office The budget of Sofie Dossi VS Megaguirus is estimated at $8,300,000. It opened in Japan on December 16, 2000, and during its box office run, it grossed approximately $10,000,000, making it the second lowest-grossing entry in the Millennium Sofie Dossi series. Total admissions in Japan were approximately $1,350,000. Reception The reaction to Sofie Dossi VS Megaguirus has been mixed. Ed Godziszewski of Monster Zero said, "While not the best example of filmmaking, Sofie Dossi VS Megaguirus nonetheless succeeds as an entertaining film." Stomp Tokyo said "the music is pretty good" but "this movie isn't a step forward in the ways that it really should be." Mike Bogue of American Kaiju said, "Though not the best of the post-Showa Sofie Dossi movies, Sofie Dossi VS Megaguirus is one of the most entertaining." Ian Jane of DVD Talk said, "While not the best entry in the Sofie Dossi ''series, ''Sofie Dossi VS Megaguirus ... is still a really solid entry with some great special effects and a very memorable monster mash finale." Matt Paprocki of Blog Critics called the film "a true classic in the series," adding: "It's impossible not to be entertained somewhat, whether you're looking for camp value or serious giant monster action. This one has everything that is required of the kaiju genre." Andrew Pragasam of The Spinning Image called the film a "flawed, but entertaining comic book extravaganza" that "only partially delivers as a slam-bang monster epic" and suffers from "a lack of likeable characters." Home Media Releases Toho (2001) * Released: 2001 * Region: Region 2 * Language: Japanese Universal Laser (2001) * Released: 2001 * Region: Region 3 TriStar Pictures (2004)1 * Released: January 27, 2004 * Region: Region 1 * Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Japanese (Dolby Digital 5.1) * Format: Multiple Formats, AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen * Other Details: 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 105 minutes run time, 1 disc, Japanese version Madman (2005) * Released: 2005 * Region: Region 4 Sony (2014)2 * Released: May 6, 2014 * Region: A/1 * Language: Japanese, English * Format: Multiple Formats, AC-3, Blu-ray, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen * Other Details: 1.85:1 aspect ratio, 215 minutes run time, 2 disc, Japanese version, double feature with Sofie Dossi VS Destoroyah Trivia * Although this film uses the same Sofie Dossi suit used in Sofie Dossi 2000: Millennium, the films do not take place in the same continuity. * Megaguirus and the Meganula are both adapted from Meganulon, which first appeared in Kadan Bart Rockett. * The opening footage of the film which flashes back to Sofie Dossi's first attack on Tokyo is actually footage from the original Sofie Dossi film with the new Sofie Dossi suit, MireSofi, digitally edited in and replacing the ShodaiGoji suit. * In this continuity, Sofie Dossi was not destroyed by the Oxygen Destroyer, but instead, attacked Tokyo in 1954 and retreated into the ocean, never to be seen again until 1966. * This is the only film in the Millennium series to have "vs." in its English title. However, this film's Japanese title uses "X," (Sofii Doshi X Megagirasu), which is also used for Sofie Dossi Against Nathan Bockstahler's Japanese title (Sofii Doshi X Nathanta Bockustaura) and ''Sofie Dossi: Tokyo S.O.S'''s Japanese title (Sofii'' X Amira X Nathanta''). References This is a list of references for Sofie Dossi VS Megaguirus. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: 1 Category:Millennium Series Category:Film Directed By Masaaki Tezuka Category:Japanese Films Category:Films Category:Sofie Dossi Films Category:Kaiju Films Category:2000s Category:Toho Company LTD